Time Waits For No Man
They formed their hermit kingdoms, where they could carry out their massacres in secret. The urgency of it kept drumming through his head; and the thrummm of history would not wait for him. He was confused at the dislocation, but at the same time could feel destiny seize him; and there was no choice.
Facebook had just removed all links to news sites in Australia; backlash against the government's pathetic efforts to shore up Murdoch's cash flow in the nation of his birth.
Leaving us, bereft. Well a million or three millenials who were probably barely interested in the news anyway.
We become a hermit kingdom.
We are cut off from the world.
The evil that was imported here could have free reign.
The place, the time.
He couldn't hold them back.
His mother was in a home; at last. These family issues that afflict old age and had nothing to do with the life we had before, or the life we thought we'd live.
They had wasted so much time, money and energy facing false allegations made against him; he could hear them and they would never surrender. Oh yes they would.
Here, now.
Summer was drawing to a close and there had barely been a sunny day in the lot of it.
We come, we saw. We make light of the surrender. We shrug as if we'd always been mates. We remember things from our past and barely no why; surprised by the scattered connections.
His old friend was dying and all around the talk of death. The brutal simplicity of a lifespan.
It was all too much. It was never enough. We would worship you and embrace you and live in the physical moment, and then ... ? ....
And then history turned; calm at the centre of the storm, even now it was hard to believe what was happening.
He would walk through that cold church and stand in front of the alter. He would gaze in wonder at their strange rituals. He would bless you from one of the many fragments; while you sought understanding and mystery, we sought clarity and purpose.
And one foul step at a time in this evil place, they would make their moves, they would succumb to the altar, they would reach up and haul the mysticism screaming into the light; and be glad we were here. And glad we were safe.
And hide in the lattice of everything. When you are near appear far. When you are far appear near.
HEADLINES
Politicians, news providers and civil society groups in the UK and US have rounded on Facebook and said the company’s decision to block all media content on its platform in Australia should hasten moves to bring its powers under control.
In a step condemned as “an attempt to bully a democracy” and “threatening to bring an entire country to its knees”, Facebook stopped its 18 million Australian users from viewing or sharing news stories overnight in an escalating row over whether it should have to pay media companies for its content. It said the new rules “ignore the realities” of its relationship with news publishers.
While Google has struck preemptive deals with several outlets ahead of the introduction of Australia’s news media code, Facebook’s defiance of legislators prompted fierce attacks in Australia and on both sides of the Atlantic.
Parliament House rape allegations: New text messages reveal trouble for PM’s office
Scott Morrison’s claim that no one in his office knew about the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins has been undermined by new text messages.
Hillsong founder Brian Houston has revealed he and his wife Bobbie are stepping away from their leading roles to make way for a new generation of leaders.
Mr Houston, who turns 67 this week, told attendees at Hillsong‘s Vision Sunday service he had been “doing a lot of soul-searching and praying” about the future of the megachurch.
The announcement follows a spate of international lawsuits and revelations of New York Pastor Carl Lentz’s affair.
Ms Houston also found herself under fire for “fat-shaming” slurs.
It has been 38 years since the couple started their Australian empire in Baulkham Hills, in Sydney’s leafy northwest.
“For Bobbie and I, moving forward and I guess globally we've grown so rapidly and it’s been really a time when what has become clear is we need to put a whole lot more structure into what we’re doing globally,” Mr Houston said.